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Man that was fun. Didn’t speed, mind you. These are all 35mph surface roads and such, and out of respect to basic safety I’ll not pass 40. But it’s so fun to use the instantaneous acceleration of our electric drives to “square off the velocity curve.”

HVB temp went from 66F to 86F in 9.9 miles. About 2/3 of the time, I accelerated slowly due to traffic in front. 86F is still quite healthy to Li Ion; this is not something I do in summer tho.

The power and performance of our cars is a marvelous secret unknown to others. We're entitled to enjoy it once in awhile. C-Max drivers have no stereotype, no public profile, and little obvious Green cred. Whenever someone asks about my car, the short answer is, "66 mpg and 200 HP." If they seem interested, I'll mention, "And 0-60 in eight seconds." It's a darn shame that the first successful hybrids were so underpowered. That made low performance seem like part of the hybrid bargain. Some folks settled for that, and some who disliked cars in general might have been attracted to it. A similar sentiment sold plenty of Beetles in the Sixties. But it will take more hybrids with on-par performance to grow the hybrid share of the market. In that way, more power could lead to less fuel consumed, so it's a good Green thing.

I don't floor it every day, but when I do, I enjoy the results. With previous cars, my mechanics have always advised me to "blow out" the engine with high RPMs occasionally, so I did. My only concern comes when I face a certain uphill freeway on-ramp on an EV drive. Then, I'm starting the ICE and immediately revving it, with a strong torque demand. That seems like a shock to a cold engine, so next time I intend to go EV Later a few blocks before the ramp, to circulate the oil, at least.

I wonder if you did that drive conservatively what the temp rise would be. Just for comparison curiosity. Right now its cold around here, so I think my HVB is closer to 40F. Is it that warm in PA to be at 66F? Maybe from driving then it warmed up to 66...

I wonder if you did that drive conservatively what the temp rise would be. Just for comparison curiosity. Right now its cold around here, so I think my HVB is closer to 40F. Is it that warm in PA to be at 66F? Maybe from driving then it warmed up to 66...

These cars do have some power for sure. :)

-=>Raja.

Great insights into our hybrids, Raja!

Ah, and in regards to freeways--

There are two exits for I-476 about equidistant from my house. I head to one to go north, the other to go south. Due to downhill/uphill differences, I get to the northbound with around 98% SOC. So in that direction, to use your method of highway driving which is based on 93% charge ideally, I accelerate onto the onramp in EV Now mode. I get up to 60mph and then at 93%, hit EV Later and back off to 55mph. Our cars use up more battery while the ICE warms up, so at a steady state speed even at 55mph, it's a low-stress start for the ICE, I should think. The battery is powering the car mainly, and the ICE is running at pretty low rpms until it hits around 115F water temp. This seems less stressful to the ICE than accelerating. Acceleration makes it work a lot harder right away, no?

On the southbound onramp I face a "10% hill" first, meaning just one long uphill uses up around 10% of the HVB. So in that direction, when I light up the ICE on the highway, I'm usually at around 83%. But the thing is--I'd never want to start the ICE from cold going up that hill! That would likely be awful for its health.

I can easily answer your question on the normal HVB temperature rise on my ride home. Since I'm near the limit of my range in cold weather, I keep my normal acceleration at 2 bars and less, and try to anticipate braking. Under these conditions in similar weather to today, in the 40s, the HVB temp rises between 7 and 11 degrees. Usually around 7.

Me and my brother have found a new lunch spot for work and the return trip is quickest by highway with just an exit's worth of distance (1 light, all right turns vs ~5 lights all left turns). Given the colder weather I've went EV Now each time for such a short distance. It is very enjoyable with the nice quiet EV acceleration. Naturally no guts when up at highway speeds but I absolutely have no fear getting up to speed on the on-ramp and keeping up with everyone else.